1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and device to address psychological and emotional disturbances and discomfort. In particular, this invention describes a novel toy, and a novel method employing the toy, to facilitate the teaching, application and self-administration of a variety of psychotherapeutic technique best known as energy psychology or tapping.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Specific energy points on the body have been identified by Eastern cultures and medicine, and more recently studied and in some cases validated and used by Western culture. These points, known as meridians and chakras, are used in acupuncture, acupressure and other physical therapies and alternative medicines.
Meridians were studied by early Chinese physicians nearly 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. These physicians believed there is an energy network traversing just below the surface of the skin, which works in harmony with the body's circulatory, nervous, muscular, digestive, genitourinary and all other systems of the body. The energy, known as “chi” or “qi”, flows through the body through pathways called meridians, which correspond to the body's main organs. “Chi” flows continuously from one meridian to another. A break in the flow of chi is an indication of imbalance, which causes the body's organs or tissues to function poorly. For like reason, illness is caused by disturbances in or blockage of “chi” through the body's meridians.
The chakras came to be an integral part of yoga philosophy in the non-dual Tantric tradition, which arose in the 7th century and espoused the belief that the mind and the body are intrinsically linked. The human body contains seven primary chakra points, each point relating to a specific part of the body, to specific emotions, and to specific mental and spiritual concerns. Illnesses and pain are caused by an imbalance in the chakra itself, from an emotional or spiritual cause, which then manifests into a physical ailment.
Over the past twenty years there has developed a specie of psychological technique for the treatment of psychological and emotional disturbances, and schools concerning themselves with these techniques, which center around tapping specific meridian and chakra points on the body. These techniques and schools are variously and progressively known as “Thought Field Therapy” or “TFT”, “Emotional Freedom Techniques” or “EFT”, and more generally as “Energy Psychology”, “Tapping Therapy” and “Meridian Therapies”. These psychotherapeutic techniques provide a method that, when applied to an emotional problem or disturbance that an individual is attuned to, can eliminate the disturbance and overcome the negative emotions emanating there from.
Modern practitioners and therapists in the field of energy psychology stimulate by tapping these meridian and chakra points, sometimes according to learned sequences or codes, and other times more generally according to a group of associated points, during times of psychological and emotional discomfort or disturbance, in order to effectively treat the discomfort and the underlying condition giving rise to the discomfort or disturbance. Certain meridian and chakra points are particularly effective in addressing specific types of emotional discomfort and specific psychological conditions. The various tapping therapy techniques are well known and understood, and a fair variety of such techniques are described in publicly available literature. Although this literature can teach a person the tapping theories and techniques, it takes practice and experience to become accurate and proficient in art of energy psychology or tapping.
To obtain full benefit of the energy psychology techniques, the subject needs to learn to stimulate his or her own meridian and chakra points through tapping. The person is typically taught where to tap, how to tap, and in some cases in what order to tap, the meridian and chakra points. After a few minutes of tapping specific meridian and chakra points, or a group of such points, the emotional discomfort is released and the person begins to reflect a new and positive emotion. The new emotion is outwardly manifested through the subject's changed body language or other expression. For example, if the subject is a child who harbors a fear of going to school, application of the tapping psychotherapy will cause the child's fear to fade and the child will then express his or her desire to want to go to school.
Accordingly, the effectiveness of energy psychology or tapping techniques can be enhanced by the ability and efficiency with which the subject can learn and accurately apply the tapping therapy in the absence of the teacher. Teaching the techniques efficiently to children and teens is often more challenging. It is a primary object of the instant invention to provide an easy, efficient, effective and enjoyable method of teaching energy psychology or tapping, particularly to children and teens.
Currently, there are training resources in the form of books, pamphlets and videotapes that offer information, guidance and training in energy psychology and tapping therapy and the implementation of these techniques. While primarily intended to educate and train the therapist, these same resources can be employed by the therapist, practitioner, parent or other adult to acquaint the subject with the technique and with how the subject can use the technique without the teacher's oversight. Textual training resources have limitations, particularly among those with limited reading comprehension. While audiovisual materials may be able to address the needs of the young and learning challenged, learning by doing is generally accepted as the easiest, most efficient and enjoyable training method. Such is particularly the case with young subjects. Moreover, prepared teaching literature and audio-visual material can only teach generally, and cannot as clearly target corresponding points to specific disturbances or uncomfortable feelings. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of teaching the self-administration of energy psychology or tapping therapy through a learning by doing method that is easily tailored to address the specific disorders, uncomfortable feelings and negative emotional conditions.
Among the prior art are published patents that employ devices and teaching aids intended to train practitioners in the arts of hand and feet acupuncture and reflexology. These patents do not teach subject self-administration of the therapies, nor do they teach the administration of any psychotherapeutic technique capable of relieving emotional discomfort. It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a device or teaching aid that facilitates the teaching of a psychotherapeutic technique that can resolve emotional disorders and discomforts to subjects for their later self-administration.
Also described in publicly available prior art literature are dolls and other toys used by child psychotherapists to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of emotional disturbances suffered by children. These toys and dolls are manipulated by the child to illustrate feelings and express emotions. These dolls and toys are not used as a vehicle to teach a psychotherapy that the child will self-administer in the therapist's absence. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device or teaching aid in the form of a doll or other toy that can be used for the efficient and accurate teaching of energy psychology or tapping to subjects, and particularly children and teens, for their later self-administration and self-treatment.